Bristol Bay buy-backs

Pebble miners to spend

Backers of a massive copper, gold and molybdenum mine at the headwaters of the Bristol Bay watershed say they plan to spend $80 million in 2013 on environmental studies and more to finalize their project description.

Fed sustainability stamp

The council voted 16-0 at the end of its three day meeting in Mystic, Conn., to ask Congress to include in its rewrite of the Magnuson-Stevens Act language establishing a certification program for seafood — similar to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's stamp of approval for meat, according to the debate at the council.

Global market's Bristol Bay effects

Risk: Climate, not oil

Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, says declining Arctic sea ice, which has increased incentives for shipping through the Bering Strait and the Arctic Ocean, poses a greater risk to the marine environment than from oil and gas drilling in the Arctic.

Bristol Bay too rich

The Bristol Bay watershed in southwestern Alaska supports the largest sockeye salmon fishery in the world, is home to 25 federally recognized tribal governments, and also contains one of the largest concentrations of copper, gold and molybdenum in the world.

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

LIVE CRAB FROM ALEUTIANS

Chileans promise to be good

The law aims to protect vulnerable marine ecosystems by providing annual reports about the state of fishery resources, special support for research programs about fishing and aquaculture, and by banning bottom-trawling, which is exceptionally harmful to the marine environment.

Just a Pebble reminder

Folks on all sides of the fight over the proposed Pebble Mine are commenting about the new version of the EPA Bristol Bay Watershed Assessment. Here's how you can too. To read a 23-page executive summary of the Bristol Bay Watershed Assessment, go totinyurl.com.

Cook Inlet managers nervous

While the setnetters were beached most of the summer, the driftnetters took in more than 23 million pounds of sockeye for a total profit of $32 million, slightly higher than 2011, when they captured $30 million of fish.

Cal readies for salmon

Grants for innovative ideas

With the goal of sustaining fishermen while rebuilding fish stocks, the new grants will aid the design and implementation of projects that provide technical and practical support for fishing communities across the country.

Thursday, May 2, 2013

OBJECTING TO FRANKENSALMON

Center for Food Safety, Earthjustice, Friends of the Earth, and Food & Water Watch will join over 1.8 million people who have raised vehement objections, based on science, policy and law, to a proposal before the Food and Drug Administration to approve genetically engineered salmon, the first-ever GE animal intended for human consumption.

Act against Pebble

Save Oregon fish from mining

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife killed sea lion number CO22 (or as activist group Sea Shepherd dubbed him, Brian) April 16, for eating too many salmon, but conservationists say that it's suction dredge mining, sucking up riverbeds in giant vacuums, that poses a bigger threat to Oregon's rivers and their fish.

Helicopter to Cordova

Rewriting Magnuson-Stevens

Indiscriminate fishing practices continue to damage irreplaceable marine habitat, kill too many species incidental to the targeted catch, and remove too many of the small forage fish that provide food for many of the larger inhabitants of the ocean.

Lowdown on Louisiana Shrimping

What was once an industry supporting just a few fishermen using relatively simple gear has evolved into a highly competitive commercial and recreational enterprise engaged in by thousands of people utilizing the latest in sophisticated gear, equipment and vessels.

Otters not sustainable

Friday, May 3, 2013

ARNE NOW A LOBBYIST

Arne Fuglvog, a former fisheries advisor to Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski and commercial fisherman, who stepped down in 2011 when he was charged with out-of-bounds fishing in Alaska waters, has reportedly found a new vocation – lobbyist for commercial fishing companies.

... and why

Fishermen discover Seward

During the past few weeks, every available square foot of tie up dock space in Resurrection Bay has been utilized by fishing boats as the crews prepared for the herring, black cod, and halibut openings.

Community supported fishing

Commercial harvesters have expanded deliveries of Gulf of Alaska seafood from Alaskans Own Community Supported Fishery to Anchorage this year, with monthly offerings also arriving to subscribers in Kodiak, Juneau and Sitka.

Alaska Fisheries Report

Coming up this week, harvest restrictions are expected for the Yukon River, but the Kuskokwim River may see more salmon going to fishermen. The latest EPA assessment claims a large mine in Bristol Bay would affect salmon habitat, and the future of the state's film tax program.